Regan Smith shakes hands with Colorado Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario after Smith threw out the first pitch at a game earlier this season in Denver. (Special to The Denver Post)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will return to the No. 88 car for Sunday’s race at Martinsville — but Denver’s Regan Smith will be without a ride.

Earnhardt was cleared Tuesday by a neurosurgeon to start racing again, after he missed the past two weeks to recover from two concussions, including one suffered in a 25-car pile-up on the last lap of the Oct. 7 race at Talladega.

The injury snapped Earnhardt’s streak of 461 consecutive starts, marking the first time a Cup event did not include an Earnhardt in the field since Sept. 3, 1979.

Smith, the former driver of Denver’s No. 78 car for Furniture Row Racing, took Earnhardt’s spot behind the wheel at Charlotte and Kansas.

But with Earndhardt’s return, Smith will be sidelined at Martinsville.

“It was two of the coolest weeks I’ve ever been a part of,” Smith told the Sporting News on Tuesday. “But for me personally as I driver, I got a ton of knowledge and learned a lot in two weeks and a lot of things that hopefully I can carry with me for a long time to come.”

Smith had been tagged to race for Kurt Busch’s former team, Phoenix Racing’s No. 51 car. But Phoenix said this week it will stick with its substitute driver, A.J. Allmendinger.

Regan took his dream shot at Hendrick, and left Finch empty. Finch is right to stick with Allmendinger, even though Smith is a better driver. Regan Smith got a full Nationwide ride out of the deal, so it was worth it for him. Plus now that Hendrick knows and likes him, it will be easier for Smith to get a ride when Gordon or JR retire in another year or two.